A Real Life Burn Book: Yelp For People

The Washington Post calls this a “terrifying concept.” They write:

You can already rate restaurants, hotels, movies, college classes, government agencies and bowel movements online. So the most surprising thing about Peeple — basically Yelp, but for humans — may be the fact that no one has yet had the gall to launch something like it. When the app does launch, probably in late November, you will be able to assign reviews and one- to five-star ratings to everyone you know: your exes, your co-workers, the old guy who lives next door. You can’t opt out — once someone puts your name in the Peeple system, it’s there unless you violate the site’s terms of service. And you can’t delete bad or biased reviews — that would defeat the whole purpose. Imagine every interaction you’ve ever had suddenly open to the scrutiny of the Internet public. “People do so much research when they buy a car or make those kinds of decisions,” said Julia Cordray, one of the app’s founders. “Why not do the same kind of research on other aspects of your life.

More from Gothamist:

Users would be able to publicly judge and rate anyone whom they can prove they know, so long as they’re doing so under their real name (via Facebook), indicate whether they know them personally, professionally, or romantically. And once you’ve been reviewed you will be powerless to remove yourself from the system. As if Secret weren’t enough to drive people to suicide, or as if there weren’t enough ways to harass, demean, or bully people online, Cordray and McCullough are trying to sell investors on the idea that this is, I kid you not, an earnest and good-hearted enterprise.